[wisb] Re: Warbler Quiz (long, no sightings)
- From: Anna Keaney <annakeaney@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, dolichovespula@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:07:58 -0500
Speaking as a newbie, Ted's thoughts below really hit home.
"Is it enough to say that a bird belongs to a given order//family, or should
those traits be explained as well?"
I don't have a birding background, which means I'm trying to teach my
bird-crazy son something I know nothing about when we go out together.
We have our few guides, but when people talk/post about order/family
characteristics, either we're not reading the guides well enough, the
info isn't in the guides, or we're just not getting the information from
wherever people learn this sort of thing. I know that for me, a useful
guide would include a side-by-side comparison of orders/families, or
some sort of flowchart-tree that helps narrow identification by
characteristics.
"How much attention has really been paid
to the bird itself? Are you learning what the bird actually looks/sounds
like (be it shape, color, behavior, etc), or are you just recognizing it?"
This is something I'm also trying to stress with him: to really _watch_
the birds he sees so that he's not just claiming the ID, but so that he
will be able to ID it again in future more confidently and easily. It
can be too easy to get locked into what a description says, match it up
to a bird, and move on: not study the bird and learn what you're really
seeing. When a description, photo, or drawing is inadequate, this makes
repeated identification (and, therefore, learning) really challenging.
Anna Keaney (long-suffering mother)
Gibson Dullea (eager son)
Madison, Dane
On 8/21/2012 12:47 PM, Edward Keyel wrote:
> Some of the questions I'd like to bring up are what makes for a good
> write-up as well as what makes for being able to make a good write up? Is
> it enough to say that a bird belongs to a given order//family, or should
> those traits be explained as well? How much attention has really been paid
> to the bird itself? Are you learning what the bird actually looks/sounds
> like (be it shape, color, behavior, etc), or are you just recognizing it?
>
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